Right Here

Lumen Therapy Collective, WPKN
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Mental Health

Right Here is a mental health podcast that explores the psychological patterns shaping our relationships, choices, and inner lives. Hosted by therapists Christopher Mooney, LCSW, and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW, each episode offers grounded, compassionate conversations rooted in clinical insight and real human experience. No jargon. No judgment. Just clear, thoughtful dialogue designed to help listeners better understand themselves and the people around them.

  1. 1d ago ·  Video

    Self-Care Is Not a Prize

    Self-care has been sold to us as candles, spa days, vacations, and “treat yourself” posts. And while all of that can be lovely, it can also make self-care feel like something decorative, expensive, or earned only after we have done enough. But most people aren’t walking around saying they need more luxury. They’re saying they can't remember the last time they had a good night’s sleep, or exercised, or said no. Many of us feel guilty for resting, and we don’t know what we need until we're already overwhelmed. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW talk about self-care without the marketing. Not as a lifestyle brand, not as self-improvement homework, and not as another way to criticize yourself, but as basic maintenance for your body, mind, relationships, and boundaries. They explore why real self-care is especially hard for overfunctioners, parents, helpers, and anyone who learned that their worth comes from what they do rather than who they are. The conversation looks at why care often gets postponed until collapse, how “enough” becomes a moving target, and why small repeated actions usually matter more than big, dramatic overhauls. Christopher and Kenyon also offer a simple four-part frame for real-life self-care: body care, mind care, relationship care, and boundary care. That might mean getting more sleep, taking a ten-minute walk, sitting without your phone, reaching out to someone honestly, or practicing the sentence, “I can’t do that right now.” Because contrary to what social media might have you believe, self-care isn’t glamorous. Nor is it a prize for good behavior. This episode invites you to reimagine self-care as an everyday act. Because you're allowed to be a person—not just a producer, a parent, a helper, or the one who keeps the ship from sinking.

  2. Aug 13 ·  Video

    Trying to Fix People

    You love someone. A partner, a parent, a grown child, a close friend. You see them struggling, repeating old patterns, avoiding help, making choices that hurt them or the people around them. So you try to help. You send the article. You recommend the podcast. You suggest therapy. You rehearse the perfect conversation in your head, the one that will finally make it click. And somewhere along the way, without meaning to, helping turns into managing. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore the deeply human impulse to fix the people we love. Not because we are controlling or manipulative, but because we care, we're scared, and we may have learned a long time ago that being “the responsible one” kept things from falling apart. Christopher and Kenyon look at the difference between support and control, and how fixing can quietly shift us from being in relationship with someone to becoming the project manager of their life. They explore how this shows up in romantic relationships, with adult children and parents, and in parenting, where guidance can slide into trying to engineer your child’s inner world. The conversation also looks at how being fixed lands on the other person: as pressure, shame, defensiveness, resistance, secrecy, or the feeling that they are being treated more like a project than a person. The episode offers a path toward caring without controlling by getting clear on what is actually yours, speaking from impact instead of diagnosis, deciding what you'll do if nothing changes, shifting from managing to accompanying, grieving the version of someone you wish they could be, and noticing when fixing someone else has become a way to avoid your own fear, loneliness, or paralysis. You can care deeply and still not be in charge of another person’s life. You can tell the truth about how their choices affect you without becoming their therapist, parent, or parole officer. Sometimes, the most loving move is to just let someone be.

  3. Aug 5 ·  Video

    The Appreciation Gap

    You decide to do something different. You start unloading the dishwasher without being asked. You cut back on drinking. You stop snapping at your kids at bedtime. You finally schedule that doctor’s appointment, declutter the closets, or make that change you’ve been avoiding. And somewhere inside, there’s a quiet hope that someone will notice. Maybe they’ll say thank you. Maybe they’ll say they’re proud of you. Maybe they’ll say, “I see how hard you’re working.” But what happens when they don’t? The change becomes the new baseline. The effort goes unnamed. And instead of feeling proud, you start to feel resentful. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore what they call the appreciation gap: the space between the recognition we secretly hope for and the silence we often receive in its place. The conversation looks at how resentment can form when genuine growth, care, or effort becomes tangled up with an unspoken expectation to be seen. Christopher and Kenyon examine why wanting appreciation is deeply human, why people often miss or minimize our changes, and how the brain turns that silence into stories like “They don’t care,” “They never notice,” or “Why do I bother?” They explore how the appreciation gap shows up in partnerships, parenting, work, recovery, and personal change, especially when growth begins to feel like a test other people are failing. The episode also offers a practical path forward: getting honest about the hidden expectation, separating appreciation from the value of the change, asking for acknowledgment directly instead of setting silent tests, noticing when praise has become a condition, appreciating yourself without making it cheesy, and recognizing when over-giving is really an attempt to earn being seen. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be appreciated. The work is learning how to value your own effort in the space between what you hoped someone would say and what actually happened.

  4. Jul 27 ·  Video

    The Inner Critic (Part Two)

    In part two of "The Inner Critic," Right Here hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW continue exploring the voice inside us that says we’re too much, not enough, already behind, or bound to fail. This conversation looks at the real cost of living under that voice: hiding instead of connecting, avoiding new risks, choosing unavailable relationships, attacking progress in recovery, shutting down creative work before it begins, and losing the ability to rest, receive joy, or accept a compliment. Christopher and Kenyon examine how the inner critic often disguises itself as humility, realism, or self-improvement, when it may actually be shame, fear, and old protection strategies running the show. They also explore the connection between self-criticism, perfectionism, comparison, anxiety, depression, obsessive negative self-talk, and the painful isolation that can come from believing the worst things we say about ourselves. The episode offers practical ways to work with the inner critic rather than trying to erase it: noticing it, naming it, externalizing it, asking what it's trying to protect, looking for the younger part of you it may be defending, bringing in kinder and more accurate voices, and practicing the simple but surprisingly difficult act of receiving a compliment with “thank you.” The inner critic may not disappear completely, but it doesn't have to run your life. You're not the voice that attacks you. You're the one who can hear it, question it, laugh at it, and begin writing a different next chapter.

  5. Jul 21 ·  Video

    The Inner Critic (Part One)

    You haven’t even had your morning coffee yet, but the voice is already there—listing off your inadequacies. You didn’t do enough yesterday. You’re hopelessly behind. You’ve never been able to keep up. You open your phone and start to scroll, and the thought comes: everyone else is doing everything better than you. Most of us have some version of that voice, and because it sounds so familiar, we often mistake it for the truth. In Part One of this two-part conversation, Right Here hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore the inner critic: what it is, where it comes from, why we believe it, and how to start relating to it differently. Through the lenses of shame, comparison, anger, limiting stories, anxiety, creativity, parenting, recovery, and self-worth, Christopher and Kenyon examine the difference between healthy self-reflection and self-attack. The conversation looks at how the critic often develops from a collage of old voices, expectations, cultural messages, and attempts at protection, then becomes so internalized that it starts to sound like you. The episode also offers a practical path toward working with the inner critic without pretending it will disappear overnight: noticing and naming it, externalizing the voice, asking what it is trying to protect, and inviting in a kinder and more accurate voice to assess your value. You are not the voice inside your head that rips everything you do to shreds. You are the one who can notice that voice, question it, and decide whether it deserves to be in charge. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here at WPKN.org or on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  6. Jul 12

    Coaching Vs. Therapy with Elizabeth Miller, CLC, LSW, MA

    At some point, a lot of us find ourselves asking some version of the same question: Do I need therapy for this, or would coaching help? Is life coaching just therapy lite? What if I’ve already done therapy and now I’m wondering what comes next? In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW are joined by life coach Elizabeth Miller, CLC, LSW, MA to unpack the difference between therapy and life coaching in a clear, non-jargony way. Together, they differentiate therapy’s focus on assessment, diagnosis, and treatment—one that's often informed by past experiences and behaviors—from coaching as a collaborative, present-and-future-focused process centered on clarity, goals, strengths, accountability, and practical next steps. The conversation examines where therapy and coaching overlap, where they differ, and how they can work together to improve outcomes for people who are feeling stuck, directionless, unmotivated, in transition, or ready to turn internal growth into external action. Elizabeth shares how her background as a therapist led her toward coaching, what coaching can look like in practice, and how she thinks about fit, referrals, and the importance of not using coaching as a replacement for needed therapy. Whether you are looking for healing, structure, accountability, or simply a clearer sense of what kind of help makes the most sense, this episode offers a grounded way to ask: What is the right support for me right now? To learn more about Elizabeth Miller, CLC, MSW, MA, connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here at WPKN.org or on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  7. Jul 4

    The Comparison Trap

    You’re having a perfectly fine day. Then you open your phone. Someone from college just got promoted. A neighbor is posting vacation photos. Another parent mentions their kid just made the travel team. And suddenly, the life you felt okay about two minutes ago starts to feel smaller, slower, or somehow not enough. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore comparison as one of the most universal human habits—and one of the quietest ways we make ourselves miserable. Drawing from psychology, social comparison theory, digital culture, parenting, work, relationships, recovery, and the nervous system, Christopher and Kenyon examine the difference between comparison as information and comparison as judgment. The conversation looks at why comparison can be useful when it helps us learn, but painful when it becomes a measuring stick for our worth. They explore the asymmetry of comparing our full, complicated inner lives to other people’s curated outer lives, how social media has industrialized comparison, and why other people’s good news can sometimes feel threatening instead of simply good. The episode also offers a practical path out of the comparison trap: noticing the feeling without immediately fighting it, asking what emotion is underneath, checking whether the comparison is fair, redirecting attention back to your own values, curating what you consume, and asking one grounding question: “If nobody could see this, would I still want it?” Comparison is not something we eliminate completely. But we can learn to catch it, question it, and stop letting someone else’s highlight reel become the final word on our real, unfiltered, in-progress lives. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

  8. Jun 26

    Alone Doesn't Have to Be Lonely

    You can live in a full house and feel lonely. You can be in a relationship and feel lonely. You can have a group chat that never stops and still feel like no one really knows you. And you can be home alone on a Friday night with nothing but a book, a movie, or a playlist and feel completely at ease. So many of us confuse being alone with being lonely, treating loneliness as a headcount problem instead of a deeper signal about connection, presence, and being seen. In this episode of Right Here, hosts Christopher Mooney, LCSW and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW explore the difference between solitude and loneliness, and why loneliness can show up even when life looks full from the outside. Drawing from conversations around relationships, parenting, digital connection, role-based living, recovery, adolescence, self-judgment, and the nervous system, Christopher and Kenyon examine how loneliness often points to the experience of feeling unseen, unknown, or unable to be fully yourself with the people around you. The conversation looks at parenting loneliness, partnership loneliness, teen loneliness, the in-between loneliness that can come with growth or recovery, and the quiet shame people often feel when they think they shouldn't be lonely. The episode also offers a practical path toward more real connection: naming loneliness without judgment, looking for depth rather than simply more contact, taking one small "honesty risk," creating consistent anchor points of connection, and learning how to be alone with yourself in a way that feels restorative instead of numbing. Loneliness isn't a judgment about who you are. It's a signal about what you need. And listening to that signal can become an act of wisdom. To book a free consultation with Christopher, Kenyon, or the other providers at Lumen Therapy Collective, visit lumentherapycollective.com.  Follow Right Here on Instagram: @lumen_therapy_collective Subscribe, share, and review Right Here on your favorite podcast platform! Right Here is a podcast partnership with WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT. This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted mental health professional.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Right Here is a mental health podcast that explores the psychological patterns shaping our relationships, choices, and inner lives. Hosted by therapists Christopher Mooney, LCSW, and Kenyon Phillips, LMSW, each episode offers grounded, compassionate conversations rooted in clinical insight and real human experience. No jargon. No judgment. Just clear, thoughtful dialogue designed to help listeners better understand themselves and the people around them.

Information

  • Creator
    Lumen Therapy Collective, WPKN
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Right Here
  • Show Website
    Right Here

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